Roman

I chose this particular coin because it shows the implements that were used for the minting of coins. Each coin needed to be minted one at a time. When we look at the reverse of this coin in the center we find an "anvil" with a special "cap." The anvil would contain two "dies" that would have been cut out with the image wanted on the coin. One section was placed in the bottom section of hte anvil and the other within the cap.

To the left we see "tongs" that would have been used to place the blank coin onto the anvil. We don't want crushed fingers! It is also possible that the coins were "hot" when minted but this is still a point of discussion among historians.

To the right we see a "hammer" and this was used to strike the image onto the coin. Coins were made quickly using this method but that also means that some coins will be minted "off-center."